Free iPods and notebooks???
There seems to be a growing fad of FreeCrap.com websites. Like you should know by now anyone and everyone that sells anything on the web will offer you free stuff. Just put FREE in big bold letters, or NEW in a red and yellow font, and you’ve got people’s attention. Sure, we’ve all heard those amazing-deal stories from buddies that got their hi-tech gadgets for almost nothing. We want to believe we can be just as lucky. If you keep your eyes open you just might be, or you can expose yourself for a monster rip-off.
So last summer, when Gratis Network started offering free iPods with their FreeiPods.com site, most people (like me) discarded it as a scam. But some people decided to give it a chance, just to figure out how it works. They learned that they needed to register and participate in one of their 3rd party offers. Then they had to refer the site to at least 5 people, who also have to participate in an offer. A lot of those people said “screw that” and went their way. Still, some found the logic in it and went ahead with it.
By August they had dispatched more than 2,500 iPods.
FreeiPods.com became so popular that they started getting media attention from CNN, The New York Times, Wired, and others. They also had a segment in The Screensavers (clip can be seen here). Last week I figured I had enough proof of their legitimacy and decided to give them a try. But when I went to the site to register and clicked on NEXT STEP, I got redirected to SmileyCentral.com.
What?!
At first I considered my browsers may have been hijacked (even the ultra-safe Firefox). So I scanned and deleted every possible threat. Once my compy was cleansed I returned to FreeiPods.com, only to find myself again in smiley spyware hell. I searched every site and forum that had any reference to this problem. It turns out I’m not the only one this happens to, but what causes it remains unknown. Some people get redirected to SmileyCentral.com and some don’t.
Whatever the reason, the widespread nature of this leads me to believe that it originates from Gratis Network itself. That alone keeps it from being 100% trustworthy.
Now, Gratis is not the only company that uses a referral marketing system. OfferCentric has jumped on the bandwagon and basically ripped off every aspect of Gratis. Not to imply that Gratis Network invented the referral system, but I doubt anyone has taken it to such a level.
The good thing about OfferCentric is that it has a few original offers, like my favorite: Notebooks4Free.com. iPods are great, but I don’t really NEED one. I could sure use a notebook, though. They have a few PC laptops and a couple of iBooks to choose from. The site is ad-free, and I’ve never been redirected. Also, most of the 3rd party offers are from mayor companies like:
- America Online
- Blockbuster Online
- Audible.com
- The New York Times
- BMG Music
- Columbia House DVD
This is where this whole thing stops being “free”. You will have to pay a certain amount for whatever offer you choose. Some of these services are time-based and involve a monthly fee. For example, Blockbuster charges $9.99 (plus local tax) for the first month of their online rental service, but you can cancel it before they charge for the second month ($14.99). The thing is you shouldn’t do it too soon: OfferCentric gets notified if offers are immediately canceled, and your Notebooks4Free.com account could be disqualified. You see, they want to believe you may stay on for the next month.
Then there are others, like BMG Music Service, which gives you 7 free CD’s (+S&H), on the condition you buy one at regular price within a year. Appera Teeth Whitening System gives you a free bottle if you provide $6.95 for S&H (you are not charged anything else if you cancel within 14 days).
You get the idea.
This is how OfferCentric makes a profit. They orient people toward the offers that other companies have available, and said companies pay OfferCentric for this service. And since most people don’t manage to get all the referrals needed to get their free notebook, they cut down on the loss of actually giving them away. The result is a net profit for them, and a free iBook to the bastard that gets all the referrals completed.
So why not give them a try? Register here, check out the offers. If you don’t like it, leave it. Don’t worry about spam, they have a strict privacy policy. For once, here’s a legitimate company that offers a great deal where you don’t have much too loose.
POSTED ON 01.25.05
under Tech/Web
Listen as mp3
Doooohhhh…You directly violated Gratis’ Terms and Conditions by using Firefox. They specifically state you need to use IE. You may not get credit with certain OC offers, either. I know because I have had referrals that did this.
Comment by Freebie War Hero — February 14, 2005 @ 11:09 pm
You heard me. I did the free shipping and handling, tried it one night and 14 days later im the proud owner of 3 more monthly supplies. Yeah i should have cancelled but when differential quotinents beckon for reasoning this little bottle of appera is far from thought. Warning: This stuff costs 30 $ dollars;deneros;pesos;bucks; a bottle. You do the math cause they did it on my bank account.
/never did get his ipod
Comment by Appera Sucks — February 18, 2005 @ 7:01 pm
seems they track your IP address. when i tried it with my german IP, they redirected me to the smiley site. after i tried with a US proxy it worked fine.
Comment by alex2308 — March 29, 2005 @ 8:11 pm
DO NOT DO APPERA. I cancelled before the trial ended and then got 3 bottles of Appera and a $90 bill. I tried to e-mail them but their only reply was “If you want to cancel your membership, go to blah blah blah I’m gay.” Obviously, you’re too lazy to answer the fucking emails so you use an automated messaging system. There were two more options on the email webpage: “email us” (OMFG!!!) and “live chat”. A link hloding the same url as the page it’s ON!?!?!!? WTF!?!?!?! Guess what, the live chat just goes to the email page!!! See what I mean!: http://www.apperawhitening.com/contact.asp
And then I try their so-called “call back request.” I wait 5 days and no response. It is said from them that they answer back in 24 hours. Haha you can stick that bullshit up my ass. I take a look at the “membership cancellation” link and it just goes back to the home webpage!!! The same with the “speak to us” option!!! Another “see what I mean”: http://apperawhitening.com/popup.html
They only give their phone number after you email them!!! I try and call them and then a recorded message just talks about their “convenient” options how to contact them. Convenient my asshole. I couldn’t talk to a REAL person because it wasn’t Monday to Friday.
Comment by Fuck Appera — April 30, 2005 @ 7:22 pm
Appera Whitening is a scam, they scamed me. Check out rippoffreport.com and see how many entrys were made about them. Thaink you
Comment by Alexis — May 27, 2005 @ 7:06 pm
So Just What is The Best Way To Cancell Out Of The ApperraWhite Scam….? Even When You Do get the auto-matic sign me up “scott” for the next three months. I think perhapes I’d like outa that soon too…
Comment by Ken — June 10, 2005 @ 2:20 pm
I looked at the source of that contact page, and found this little gem.
[map name=”MapMap”]
[area shape=”rect” coords=”141,9,269,51″ href=”contact.asp”]
[area shape=”rect” coords=”15,8,114,50″ href=”contact.asp”]
This is the source of the supposed two locations to click on that image with both email and live chat. It isn’t that the coding was done improperly - they deliberately have it link back on both choices.
It isn’t like they put the ‘contact’ link as the link attached to the image. That would have been simple to do and would have been just a simple error.
Somebody took the time to make two selection boxes, one over each “click here”, both of which link back to the same page.
Comment by Dave — December 10, 2005 @ 7:30 pm
Appera Whitening is a scam, they scamed me.
Comment by fox fire — March 17, 2008 @ 9:45 pm
In which country do you live?
Comment by mozilla firefox.com — March 18, 2008 @ 7:09 pm